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He Built His Tiny Cabin in 12 Days of Construction


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This is the story of a tiny cabin that was built in only 12 building days and how you could do it too. In this post, you’ll learn the basics of what it takes to build a tiny house from the ground up thanks to the Hay Woods And Wetlands YouTube Channel.

See how we built our off grid shelter over 12 drawn out days and raced the winter to create a suitable dwelling for a family of four on our acres of woods and wetlands.

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How He Built This Tiny Cabin In Only 12 Days Of Construction…

Learn more and see the rest by watching the video below.

VIDEO – Building an Off-Grid Tiny Cabin in Twelve Days

VIDEO 2 – How much does it cost to build a tiny cabin like this?

Spoiler: It was approximately 4200 CAD which is about $3230 USD.

Learn more

YouTube | Hay Woods and Wetlands

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 8 comments… add one }
  • jerry
    August 7, 2019, 7:02 pm

    Plywood for the floor should have been run length wise. I prefer 10′ wide as so much more flexible layout , especially with 4 people living in it. My 10’x16′ is a great size for 1-2. I’d need more for a family though you can stick kids in little more than a cabinet and they are happy.
    It’s actually normal on sailboats. They stick adults in cabinets in them!!
    A single angle/shed roof version could be built in 2 days if the material is there, a good carpenter and a helper.

    • James D.
      August 7, 2019, 11:44 pm

      Agree, except there’s no advantage to placing the plywood length wise in a 8×16 when the last 4 feet is going to be the deck and the interior space only needs three sheets of 8×4 to cover the 8×12 space.

      • jerry
        August 8, 2019, 3:58 am

        Yes there is an advantage in floors that don’t bend between joists when you put the ply strength running with the joists instead of across them, preventing floor bounce.

        • James D.
          August 8, 2019, 7:54 am

          But there’s no reason for the plywood to bend in this layout. The joists are not far apart and there’s support all around each panel that would only fail if the plywood isn’t properly fastened to them throughout.

          Plywood doesn’t have directional strength like normal real wood and 8×4 sheets will still span multiple joists in either direction. Width wise also lets both ends of the sheet be fastened securely instead of leaving gaps between sheets where they may not fall directly on a cross section.

          It’s a little difference when you go this small…

  • August 8, 2019, 9:22 am

    Our components are built in 3 1/2 days for a 12×16 w/ 4′ porch and assembly is usually 1-2 days – http://www.morhaus.com

  • Tom
    August 11, 2019, 1:12 pm

    Like what you did here, but Jerry is right. Plywood has more strength across the length, and so it has to be run with the long side perpendicular to the joists. I tear up houses everyday, and when homeowner (and sometimes professionals) lay it parallel to the joist, there is always a dip, while sheets running right next to it laying perpendicular are flat.

    • Tom
      August 11, 2019, 1:14 pm

      The same is true with OSB.

      • James D.
        August 12, 2019, 12:23 am

        Tom, that would be true of a larger structure but this is only 8×16 and I think both you and jerry are missing the detail that if they were laid perpendicular then half of the front two would be part of the deck and exposed to the elements with the other half directly connected and part of the interior and would open the structure to a lot of long term problems.

        While cutting them or only using two sheets perpendicular will only cover half of the structure that way and make half the structure possibly behave differently from the other half, which is also not good long term…

        Add another detail I think you’re both missing is the fact the layout allows the walls to be directly placed on both ends of each sheet when they’re laid parallel, which can more than make up for any difference from not laying them perpendicular.

        This small of a structure will also never put that much of a load on those floors…

        Now, if this was any larger then conventional thinking would apply but details always matter and have to be accounted for in any design and some times have to be considered case by case…

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